This fact is fiction

Mike M | On Sep 21, 2009

If any of us were asked who invented baseball, we could be expected to answer, “Abner Doubleday”. Doubleday was a decorated General in the Union Army during the Civil War who is credited with firing the first shot of the war at Fort Sumter and valiantly leading troops at Gettysburg. He died, however, in 1893 and likely never saw a game of baseball during his lifetime.
Baseball was actually created by the British as a game called rounders. In this early version, a “feeder” would throw the ball to a “striker”, who had three attempts to hit it (sound familiar?). The myth that Doubleday created baseball was actually created by a former player for the Boston Red Sox who had created a sporting goods company. This person thought that America needed it’s own national game and that it should be a “uniquely American game created by an American military hero.” After some historical research, he selected Doubleday as his “hero” and began telling the story about how baseball was created in America. The legend quickly took hold and grew like wildfire across the country, as did the sales of his sporting goods. Today, it is common belief that Doubleday invented baseball and it’s still possible to buy the brand of sporting goods created by the enterprising former player. His name was A.G. Spalding and it should be no surprise that one of the first marketing personalities was created by a pitcher.
Why is this important today? It’s another in a long list of examples that show the power of a story in marketing. Clients often want to tout their facts, but customers love to hear a good story. While we shouldn’t strive to be as deceitful as Mr. Spalding, pursing a corresponding level of success would be a worthy goal.

Mike
ddm marketing & communications

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